COUNCIL bosses may be forced to write to several caravan and holiday home owners in a bid to resolve a sewage nightmare in Colne.

Raw effluent has been seeping from a septic tank off Lenches Road, near the Prospect Farm caravan park, and running into the gardens of properties in Lenches Fold below.

The matter came to a head with an incident last March and borough councillors have called for urgent action to be taken.

Caravan park owner Michael Fairless, of Briar Edge, Prospect Farm, was taken to court by Pendle Council, accused of ignoring a notice requiring drainage jobs" target="_blank">work to be carried out there.

But it has now emerged that drainage arrangements put in place by Mr Fairless may not have contributed to the problem, at least as far as the March incident is concerned.

Council solicitor Howard Culshaw told Reedley magistrates that he must withdraw the action against Mr Fairless following legal discussions.

He said: “The allegation was that the defendant owned a structure which fed into the septic tank, which has been leaking.

“The notice was intended to remedy that situation.

“It transpires that that other caravans or homes also fed into this structure, which we were told Mr Fairless owned.

“He says that this was structure was not built at the time of this notice and could not have been feeding into the septic tank.

“It appears that this may be the case and that a fresh notice may have to be served on a number of caravans and homes.”

Mr Fairless added: “I understand the reason why the notice was served and jobs" target="_blank">work is underway to sort out the situation with the council.

“I am just sorry we have not got it right and I fully intend to sort this out.”

The issue was raised at the last Colne and District Committee of Pendle council, where councillors express concerns about the problem.

Councillors were told that one of the problems could be the prohibitive cost of installing new drains and sewers in the Lenches Road area.